An arch building is one continuous curve of steel with two flat ends, and those two ends are built completely differently from the rest of it. Quonset spray foam insulation in Grande Prairie is usually quoted on the arch alone, because the arch is what people see and what the photographs show. The end walls are where a large share of the loss actually happens, and leaving them out is the most common way one of these buildings disappoints after the work is done.
The ends are a different building
The arch is a self-supporting steel shell. The end walls are typically framed - wood or light steel - and clad separately, which means they have studs or girts, joints, a door, sometimes a window, and a junction where the flat end meets the curve. Every one of those is a detail that the arch itself does not have. An arch sprayed beautifully with the ends untouched is a building with two large uninsulated, unsealed faces, and the air will go straight to them.
The junction where flat meets curved is the awkward part
Where the framed end wall meets the arch, there is a joint that follows a curve, and no cut piece of anything fits it. That is precisely the sort of gap foam is good at, because it is applied as a liquid and takes whatever shape it lands in. It is also the sort of gap that gets skipped when somebody is working quickly, so it is worth asking specifically how the perimeter of the end wall is being sealed.
The door is the largest single hole
Most quonsets on Peace Country yards have a large sliding or overhead door in one end, sized for the equipment that lives inside. It is normally uninsulated and rarely sealed at the edges. Nothing done to the arch changes that. If the building is going to hold a temperature rather than just stop dripping, the door has to be part of the plan, and if it is not going to be we would rather say so than let the result be a surprise.
Why the arch has to be foam and not something else
There are no stud bays and no flat planes on a quonset, so batt has nothing to sit in and rigid board cannot lie against the curve without leaving voids behind it. A void behind insulation on cold steel is exactly where water collects. Foam bonds to the shell and follows the arch, so there is no cavity for condensation to form in, and it is the air barrier and the insulation in a single pass.
Preparation on a working building
Foam bonds to a clean, dry surface. On a quonset that has been in use for years that means the arch has to be cleared, cleaned, and any active rust dealt with rather than sealed under the material. Foam over rust does not stop the rust, it just makes it invisible.
The crew on your job
We quote the job, schedule it and stand behind it, and our own installers do the work on Quonset spray foam insulation Grande Prairie. You deal with us from the first site visit to the last pass of foam.
Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Grande Prairie: Common Questions
Do the end walls really need doing? They are framed buildings in their own right with a door in one of them. On most Grande Prairie quonsets they are also the most exposed part of the building. Spraying the arch and leaving the ends is how a quonset ends up performing well short of expectations.
Why not use batt or board on the arch? There is nothing for either to sit in or lie against. Anything fastened to a curve leaves voids behind it, and voids on cold steel are where the water goes.
Can it be done with equipment inside? Better cleared. The shell has to be reachable and clean, and preparation is most of what makes the bond last.
How much does Quonset spray foam insulation cost in Grande Prairie? The ends are a different building from the arch, and the junction where flat meets curved is the awkward part to detail. The door is the largest single hole in the envelope.
Best Quonset spray foam insulation contractor in Grande Prairie? Ask why the arch has to be foam rather than something else. If they offer a lining, they have not worked a corrugated curve.
Estimate the thickness with the R-value calculator, then get a free Grande Prairie quote. More on Quonset Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.